According to a new report from research firm IDC, countries from emerging markets will be the primary driver in worldwide smartphone growth. Perhaps not surprisingly, Asian countries China and India, the world’s two most populous nations, will be at the front of this charge.
According to IDC’s smartphone shipment projections (see chart below), we can expect China to push the United States down into the number two spot by a very slim lead. IDC’s senior market analyst Wong Teck Zhung explained:
PRC smartphone shipments are expected to take a slim lead over the U.S. in 2012 before the gap widens in the coming years… There will be no turning back this leadership changeover.
As for India, you can see that it is expected to make a pretty big jump to around 9 percent by 2016. IDC cites the future ‘aggressive roll out’ of 3G networks from local carriers, as well the increasing availability of low-cost smartphones.
The report qualified that the cost of smartphone ownership in emerging markets still needs to come down, however, and it’s hoped that regional vendors like Huawei, ZTE, Micromax, and Spice can help improve this situation over time.
